Chapter 8
Sorry for the late update! It's been like 9 weeks! But here's the reason for it, I recently got hooked on Harry Potter, and got inspiration for many new stories, including an original story (I'll say anything else about it only after I publish it), a few Star Wars fanfics and two novel-sized Harry Potter AU fanfics. I lost my MacBook charger at the same time, so I couldn't use my computer for a few weeks until I found it four weeks ago, after that, I had no inspiration… until now. Oh… I am so sorry for not updating! Please, forgive me ;(
No precipitation, fully sunny with no clouds. It was nearly perfect conditions to race on. And, everyone was eager to do so, but no-one else more than Anakin Skywalker, nine-year old pod-racer, he was there along with all the other pod-racers
There already was activity on the big, sandstone viewing platforms, sentients of many species cheering their support towards the racers, vendors selling different foods, their spicy smell wafting into the noses of the audience, and there was Watto, the blue Toydarian flying along, beside two men.
"Toogi! Toogi! Toong mee cha kulkah du Boonta magi! Tah oos azalus ooval Poddraces." One head of a two-headed announcer announced
The other head spoke in fluent basic, "That's absolutely right! And a big turnout here, from all corners of the Outer Rim territories. I see the contestants are making their way out onto the starting grid!", at that, the cheering increased in both volume and intensity.
From the left, all the pilots emerged, along with crew members and different sentients (even one certain, silver protocol droid) holding up different flags. The pods that were going to be used for the race were being pulled up.
The two-headed alien was announcing the most popular racers from where they were. All the pilots stood in a line, and waited, as the flag-holders came along, showing the racer's symbols, the cheering increased from the audience.
All pilots were required to, and did, bow to Jabba the Hutt when he came along to his box, in which was a not-so-handsome Twi'Lek along with many others, the green big slug-like creature was on a carpet, a bowl of live animals beside him.
Sebulba, who was beside Anakin at the ground, waved to all his cheering fans, Anakin swore that he suddenly heard something… or someone, snorting. The boy turned to see Vader and Shmi standing side-by-side.
"Show off", Vader muttered, seeing the crowd cheer at Sebulba, who was boastingly accepting it
Anakin's mother ran up to the boy and hugged him tightly, and gave a kiss right after that. Vader resisted the urge to sigh in nostalgia.
"Be safe." Shmi requested
"I will mom, I promise." Anakin promised
Vader moved away, he knew that someone was going to knock on the engines and take out a part, it was his job to make sure that event didn't have any serious repercussions. 'Damage Control' would be a term to fit that.
Shmi left as Anakin checked with the cable hitches, Vader smiled, as the announcer identified Anakin Skywalker of Tatooine. Kitster and Jar Jar unhitched the eopies that were carrying the pod-racer from it.
Vader came along and led them away, but not before Jar Jar could give words to Anakin ("Disa berry loony, Annie. May da gods be kind, mesa palo."), Vader still couldn't understand what that meant, other than the fact that Jar Jar hoped that the gods would be kind to Anakin. Artoo gave reassuring beeps.
Padmé came up, and gave the young boy a kiss on the cheek, something that Vader, for some reason, didn't remember happening to himself up to that point. But then, the former-Sith sensed Sebulba approach. Using super-fast reflexes, Vader sped towards Sebulba, and glared at the Dug as dangerously as possible.
Sebulba jumped back at the sudden appearance. Vader smirked at the action, as he started talking, "Well well well. Sebulba, hoping to cheat Pod-Racing?"
"None of your business, outsider!" The alien exclaimed, which was misfortunate… for him.
"Outsider? Me?" Vader looked offended at that, "I am no outsider! I am a Tatooine native! It is you who is an outsider!"
Using the Force Choke move a little, he squeezed Sebulba's neck, making the alien wince. Vader glared at the Dug again, as Force Persuasion was used to make him move the other way.
Meanwhile, Padmé had told Anakin, "You carry all our hopes"
To which Anakin replied, "I won't let you down!"
As Padmé moved away, Qui-Gon moved in, to beside Anakin, who was now getting on his racer, Vader moved to the side of the racer, now being opposite to Qui-Gon. Anakin glanced at the two, before looking down at the controls of his machine.
"Are you all set, Annie?" Qui-Gon spoke first, to the question, Anakin nodded, so the Jedi Master continued, "Remember, concentrate on the moment. Feel. Don't think. Trust your instincts." Qui-Gon smiled before he said the customary statement, "May the Force be with you."
Anakin nodded again, taking in the advice before looking at Vader, who smiled, a comfortable smile, one the former-Sith would've gave his children if his timeline's children, had they not died at his hands.
"Trust the Force, as Qui-Gon said, but do another thing. Focus on your emotions, let them flow though you. They will give you clarity, vision. And emotions will not lead you wrong" Vader resisted the urge to snarl. That had been advice that he realised that led him throughout the three years that had been the Clone War.
Advice he made himself, and led to his downfall.
Anakin put on his goggles along with his piloting hat, as Vader moved away, the race was starting, all the pilots flipped the switches of their vehicles, flames erupted as engines howled and wheezed in starting. The cheering gradually increased in volume.
The different sentients that were carrying flags got off the track. The pods then activated their energy binders, lightning attaching themselves to the engines in front of the pod, everyone in the audience waited in anticipation as the vehicles simple warmed up their engines, preparing for the moment of starting.
"Mesa no watch! Dissen gonna be messy!" Jar Jar exclaimed, covering his eyes in dramatic effect
"Ya pawa culka doe rundee", these Huttese words were heard from the announcer's box. Vader roughly translated it to 'Power Couplings being activated'.
"Hey, it looks like they're clearing the grid", the basic-speaking announcer commented, as the pods stood, waiting for the signal to go.
Shmi looked nervously to Qui-Gon and Vader, who entered the viewing platform bought for them. Padmé and Jar Jar had already been abroad. When everyone entered, the platform shot up like an elevator.
"Is he nervous?" Shmi asked, once the elevator stopped moving
"No. He's quite calm actually." Vader answered, detached from everyone near him, eyes focused on his younger self's pod.
Padmé suddenly became stern and frowned at Qui-Gon, starting to rant, "You Jedi are far too reckless. The Queen…"
But Qui-Gon cut the young girl off, saying, "The Queen trusts my judgement, young handmaiden. You should too."
But, Padmé only turned away, muttering, "You assume too much."
"Start your engines!", was announced, as all the pods floated immediately, all engines roared and squealed. Jabba the Hutt bit off the head of a live frog, beheading it. Immediately, Jabba spat out the head of the frog, which was in his mouth, hitting a gong that made a sound, signalling every racer to start.
On the bridge of the track, there were two red lights, then a green when the gong played. All the pods flew. In the original timeline, Anakin's pod had stalled, but, due to Vader's help with it, the pod sped ahead immediately, bursting with quick acceleration.
Everyone cheered, the vehicle was impressive. Vader proudly smiled, as he saw his younger self at 3rd place, only behind Sebulba and another racer. He knew that, as was with the previous timeline, he would win. But then, there was still the quadra-pod racer whose driver was still trying to get it started. The former-Sith snorted at the sight.
"And there goes Skywalker, everyone'll be hard-pressed trying to catch up with him today." Was announced, both Vader and Qui-Gon narrowed their eyes, as they saw in the datapad, that Sebulba was in second place.
Anakin accelerated his pod quickly, as he flew off a cliff drop-off, going way ahead of the others, all of the audience looked in awe at their datapads, which was showing footage of the race being recorded.
But, a bit later, the Dug managed to go neck-to-neck with the other racer, both trying keep control of their vehicle in a fast-paced fury. And, in a few seconds, at the first turn, Sebulba had managed to knock his pod onto the rival's, making the green podracer crash onto the edge of the track.
Four Tusken Raiders were perched above a high cliff wall, that also made the edge of the race. The Tuskens, knowing that the races disturbed their lands, and that they needed to protect their land from their enemies, the 'settlers', began firing at the pods.
A blaster bolt hit Anakin's pod before he sped off. The gunfire began to make boulders fall off the clifftop, and onto the sandy canyon, hitting many racers and making explosions boom on the land. Sebulba expertly dodged this, trailing behind Anakin.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Sebulba sped ahead from the left of Anakin, laughing heavily. And on Anakin's right, another racer sped the same way. The boy put a little more force on his accelerator, trying to catch up.
But, Anakin was now in third place, groaning angrily, Anakin pushed forward, trying to ignore the dust accumulating on his face. He needed to win this race to get the money… he just had to!
Sebulba suddenly slowed down, subtly opening a vent in the other racer's pod, and… it exploded with a great 'BOOM!', the sound was a bit painful to Anakin, who was very… very close to the explosion when it happened. Both blue and orange pods veered away from the explosion's impact skilfully.
Half of the first lap complete, Sebulba and Anakin made a series of complicated turns, slowing both their pods down by quite a bit. But, both determined, pushed further, they made it out of the narrow cliff, and onto the flat, barren land. But this was not the time to look at all the features, the starting/finishing line was near!
Both racers accelerated further, both trying to beat the other. Meanwhile, the four-engined pod had exploded, due to the driver trying to get it to start. Sebulba and Anakin approached at the main arena, and another clash was heard from the gong which Jabba had spit another frog head on.
Vader smirked as he saw his past self neck-to-neck with Sebulba, who knew that the boy had it in him. But, Qui-Gon and Padmé were worried for their young friend, while Shmi looked at the datapad showing Anakin's pod in concern.
Lap 2. The same circuit was repeated, the Tuskens had gave up shooting, so that part was easier, only having to dodge rocks, crashed pods and all previous obstacles. But, everything was normal… as normal as possible for a race, until near the end of the second lap.
Sebulba purposefully took a part off his pod, and threw it back, onto another racer's engine, causing said racer to veer into Anakin, unhooking one of the small, blue pod's engine straps.
The engines flapped around wildly, no longer supported, a stream of chilling fear fills Anakin, as he quickly took out a magnetic tool, and reached out to the engine strap using the tool. The tool tries to catch the moving engine strap using magnetic force, but… as all moving objects are, it will take time to catch it.
Fail. Another try. Fail. Another try. The engine strap suddenly moved, not wildly as before, but straight onto the magnetic part of the tool, Succeeded!
Anakin used his hand to put the engine strap back where it was, and accelerated quickly, to the third lap! Sebulba growled angrily as he saw the scene play out before him, cutting the engine of another poor racer with his orange pod's side exhaust. The racer crashes before a cloud of dust. A fourth racer crashes into the cloud of dust.
As one would say, two birds with one stone.
The two pods raced ahead, going to the final lap, the crowd cheered, their excitement coming off in waves, Anakin smiled, looking left for a moment, before speeding off again. Everyone who knew the boy racer also smiled, even if it was laced with concern for Sebulba killing Anakin.
"At the start of the third and final lap Sebulba is in the lead, being closely followed by Skywalker.", was announced, as the crowd went silent.
As the lap progresses, things are relatively calm, until Sebulba suddenly flashed his side exhaust port at Anakin's pod, and it forced the boy to move aside. The Dug accelerated further.
"Skywalker is forced onto the service ramp!" The Basic announcer exclaimed
"Oh Noah!" The Huttese Announcer replied to that
Anakin sped forward, crashing into a wood wall, breaking it, and jumping off the service ramp. Sebulba looked at the scene in confusion, as Anakin jumped high, exhilaration filling him as he quickly went down, the wind blowing on his face.
His entire body jerked as the pod stopped in mid-air and continued moving, Sebulba catching up to the boy.
"Amazing, a controlled thrust and he's back on course, what a move!" Was announced, as the race continued with a weird sensation of calm.
Sebulba tried to bump into Anakin, who kept going forward, both neck-to-neck. The speed was epic, surrounding turning into blurs. The boy was having a hard time trying to beat Sebulba.
Until… the advice Vader had gave him before the race came to mind.
"Focus on your emotions, let them flow though you"
And that's what Anakin did, letting his anger for Sebulba take over. Immediately as it happened, Sebulba had been clutching his neck, trying to pry of invisible fingers, and then slumping over, dead from a lack of oxygen.
The orange pod the now-late Sebulba once drove crashed, onto the ground without a driver, and stopped. Anakin was alone in first place, unchallenged in this race. Parts of the crowd booed, as they realised what had happened. Sebulba had suddenly stopped for some reason, it looked like to them.
"Sebulba suddenly stopped, well, we know who's gonna win this time!" The Basic Announcer announced, just as the other head announced, "Inkabunga…"
And, Anakin was alone and unchallenged for the rest of the race, easily manoeuvring at the final stretch, and casually going over the finish line, also unchallenged. Vader smiled from his viewing pod, it wasn't as interesting as the race in the original timeline, but at least it was easier for his alternate self than it had been for himself.
"It's Skywalker, the crowd is going nuts!" Exclaimed the announcer, as everyone cheered at the unexpected outcome.
Anakin stopped the Pod-Racer at the time, as everyone who knew the boy personally came up to him. Kitster and Anakin embraced, making Vader and Qui-Gon both smile. Hundreds of spectators had run towards the crowd, Vader quickly put Anakin on his shoulder, eliciting a sound from the boy, as the excited people marched off, following Vader, who looked like he couldn't have experienced worse. Everyone laughed at that.
Later, several aliens had left Watto, counting the money they earned betting against the Toydarian. Qui-Gon is seen at that moment, beside a Vader who was smiling like a fool. Watto became angry at that, how dare they!
"You!" Watto snarled, "You swindled me! You knew the boy was going to win! Somehow you knew it, I lost everything…", the alien came up and simply put his face angrily near Qui-Gon
"Whenever you gamble, my friend…" Qui-Gon started
"…You'll ultimately lose." Vader finished, looking at Watto patronisingly
Vader left while Qui-Gon and Watto discussed the terms of what will be done now that Anakin won. The former Sith noticed a probe droid watching the gathering with great interest, a non-Sith wouldn't have noticed it, but Vader was way smarter than Maul had ever been.
It only took a raise of a hand and clenching it into a fist in order to turn the droid into spare parts.
The main hangar was almost deserted, as racers had departed. Vader saw Jar Jar, Padmé and Shmi hug Anakin. All of them were proud of Anakin, Vader smiled as he adjusted himself so he was adjacent to the boy's height.
"Anakin. You have given hope to those who have none, and I have great faith you shall continue to do so." Vader smiled, knowing what he said to be true.
"We owe you everything." Padmé added
"Just feeling this good was worth it." Anakin replied to both of them, making Vader wonder exactly why he forgot it felt this good to help people.
As they were speaking, Qui-Gon had loaded up the parts onto canisters now being carried by eopies, so the group walked up the old Jedi Master, who looked apprehensively at both Anakin and Vader before speaking.
"Anakin, we need to speak in private. You too Vader." Qui-Gon looked at the two apprehensively once again, before making the two follow him. Once they were a suitable distance away from the rest, the 40-year-old man started to speak sternly, "I heard that Sebulba's dead body was found along with his pod… what happened?"
Widening his eyes, Vader realised what happened, Anakin looked down, gulping down a bit of air before speaking, "I don't know Qui-Gon sir, I was angry all of a sudden, and then the pod stopped…", Anakin looked almost as if he was about to start crying
"I told Anakin to harness his emotions if required. It's my fault." Vader suddenly spoke up, cutting off everyone.
"You… WHAT!" The Jedi Master exclaimed, shocked.
"Yes. It was not his fault, I gave him the advice!" The former-Sith exclaimed.
"There is a reason anger and hatred is banned from the Jedi Order, and this is the reason. You made a young boy kill. Out of anger." Qui-Gon told Vader, who looked down
"Qui-Gon sir, I didn't mean to do anything… I'm sorry." Tears formed at the bottom of Anakin's eyes, while Vader glanced at Anakin, and then to Qui-Gon, who suddenly looked kinder.
"I'm sure you didn't mean to, you may go now Anakin." Qui-Gon dismissed Anakin, who immediately left, not wanting to be part of the tense environment.
Anakin left to talk with his mother and friends, while Vader and Qui-Gon both stood glaring at each other, until they were sure that Anakin had gone out of range to hear their argument.
The Jedi Master sternly looked at Vader, who looked ready to defend himself at any cost. "You made a young boy use the Dark Side of the Force, it may have serious repercussions on the boy's future training. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Vader started, "I have to say nothing. That advice was the only reason I'm still alive. I thought you would understand…"
"I do not understand, you made a boy use the Dark Side, that is no better than your Sith Master… who was it… Palpatine!" Qui-Gon argued
"I am still better than him, he used babies!" Vader argued back, "The Dark Side is not as bad as you Jedi make it to be. There is no light or dark, there is only power… and the wielder's intention!"
"You mean to tell me Anakin intended to kill the Dug?" Qui-Gon asked
"No. I mean to tell that Anakin intended to beat 'the Dug' in the race, and it was merely accidental power!" Was the reply that came from the former-Sith
"Accidental power or not the boy still used the Dark Side!" The Jedi Master hissed out the last word
"Back when I was a boy, I thought you were the calmest and relaxed Jedi, and an unorthodox one… but now, I see that you are like the others in the Order." That was Vader's way of ending the argument, as he left with his robes billowing.
Qui-Gon glared at Vader's hair, and then followed the former-Sith, as they both decided to ride on separate eopies, Shmi glanced at the two nervously, before deciding to get onto her own business.
Anakin frowned, he did not like the sudden darkness he was feeling. He could not understand! Where was it coming from?
For some reason, he felt like running far away from both Qui-Gon sir and Sir Luke Vader. Both of them seemed to be angry at the other. But why?